Imusgate Pt. 4: Some Final Thoughts

I swear that this is the last of the Imusgate posts. Maybe. But in all honesty, I believe that it is somewhat ridiculous that there has been nothing else reported on since this whole Imusgate thing began. I have my ways of scouring the ‘net to find stories on radio stations, copyright infractions, etc., but I believe that with this news story, everything has officially come to a standstill. And that’s very sad. No one seems to be giving much thought to the fact that the entire internet radio industry is about to be crushed by legislation that was denied appeal. I already reported about this, and it’s pointless to keep posting about it, since it’s going to inevitably come and no one can stop it. Imus, however, has the media in a frenzy. They have been reporting on him from every single angle that they can, dragging in issues with hip-hop, racism, sexism in society, and a plethora of other issues and entities. This new development has to be the last one, right? I sure hope so. But let’s just see what I’m ranting all about.

Ever since Imus was pulled from the radio, listeners were unable to hear the show because of two facts: Imus wasn’t broadcasting any new ones, and stations weren’t playing old ones. Sounds simple enough. But then I was proved wrong on the latter. KCAA-AM, a small broadcaster in Riverside, California, had been broadcasting the show to their listeners for years. When Imus was taken off of the air, they decided that instead of following in suit like the rest of those corporate sucklings, they were going to play old archived shows and throw in some call-ins and letters about the current situation that Imus is in. CBS caught wind of this and decided to sue the pants off of the station, alleging that the station is violating copyright protection laws. The suit involves a temporary restraining order (?) and $150,000 fines for every violation that occurred. KCAA insisted that they were only trying to “educate the public,” as their attorney put it. But as a result of this, KCAA agreed to air the tapes until April 27, when they would destroy all of the previous recordings.

So what does this exactly mean in the scope of Imusgate? I have to say that the part about wanting to “educate the public” is far from what they initially intended to do. Clearly, the radio station attempted to capitalize on the controversy and get more listeners, which, as a result, would allow them to boost the amount of money that they can charge advertisers. While I was aware from the start that the media would exploit this story in every possible way, I must admit that I’m truly saddened by the fact that radio stations would attempt to profit from the situation. Hiding behind the excuse of wanting to “educate the public” is a legal tactic, and is obviously not what the station intended to do at all. As a result, they have to deal with fines galore, which they undoubtedly should as a result of their immorality.

But while this is basically an isolated incident, this says a lot about the overall state of terrestrial radio and their inability to get listeners to stay tuned in. Do stations really have to revert to exploiting the biggest thing to hit radio in years in order to keep people listening? Can’t they find ways to boost profit by any other means? Apparently not. Stations are finding that the less edgy and controversial their programming is, the fewer listeners are going to tune in to hear what’s playing. As a result, people are caring less and less about terrestrial radio and depending more on other mediums for entertainment. Does this specific incident point to the fact that radio stations are becoming sleazier for more profit and listeners? Not exactly, considering the fact that payola has been a constant in the industry for years. This signifies the lengths that radio stations will go to inflate their profits, which should definitely be faced with the type of fines that are currently pending.

So in conclusion to this (relatively) shorter post than others, I must say that things have really been drawn out in this whole Imusgate affair. The man apologized and recognized that he was wrong. Everyone’s dropped their opinion on the matter. Hip-hop has suffered some serious blows for this man’s behavior. Isn’t it enough that peoples’ careers were destroyed? The debates about racism and sexism shouldn’t end, obviously, but it’s time to stop dragging Imus’ name into them. Radio stations should be focusing on improving their content rather than exploiting controversies. All of these are just a few suggestions to make the world a better place and some observations about how out-of-hand this has all become. So for the next post, which will be the last of this blog, don’t expect me to talk about Imus. I’m sick of him. Gosh.